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Originally Posted by Zeraph
Thanks. That helped. That let me get it sharp enough to cut paper with its own weight and start to cut my skin if I placed it on my arm and slowly moved it (stopped pretty quickly tho hehe). Still not sharp enough to shave with. I know its technically possible but it almost seems like an urban myth.
edit: just gave shaving with it a better try. Put shaving cream on and it did get some hairs. I could eventually shave my whole face with it. Hurts like a motherfucker though! heh
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Shaving will take a little more work, you need to polish and strop the edge to get a clean shave. The Ceramic will get you most of the way there, but leather is what you need to for that last bit of polish.
To get it sharper spend more time honing it with the Ceramic until the Bevel is completely polished and smooth like a mirror. Look at the very edge of the blade, if you see any reflection or light at the edge, it's not sharp. When the edge is right, it looks like a dark line, no reflection.
It's really a lot easier with different grades of stone or with sand paper where you have more control with the grit. Right now your going from Diamond to Ceramic, which is like going from 100 grit to 4000 grit. It's going to take a lot of work with the Ceramic to get that edge to shave smoothly.
One trick I use when working with unfamiliar stones is to take a Sharpy or other permanent marker and cover the bevel you're sharpening. Make a few passes with the Ceramic, then look at the Bevel. You'll be able to see the marker in the scratches left by the Diamond that the Ceramic hasn't smoothed. Keep working the edge until the marker is gone.
Using a magnifying glass or jewelers loupe to see the edge better helps too. Keep working at it, it sounds like you're getting there.
You can also use a leather belt to strop the blade to razor edge. You can use it bare or add some jewelers rouge to make it go quicker.
When stropping you move the blade the opposite direction that you would with a stone. Instead of edge pushing into the stone, you drag the edge (at the same angle as your bevel) along the leather. If the blade is moving away from you, the edge should be toward you so it dragging along the leather instead of pushing into it. When you reach the end of a stroke, lift the blade, keeping the same angle. Your edge is going to be very fine at this point, so if you don't lift it off of the leather at the same or less of an angle, you will curl the edge and lose what you just worked to achieve.
If you don't have a leather belt or strap, cardboard will work. Watch the last step in that video, how he strops with the card board. Leather just works better.
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